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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



ENGLISH 
WALNUTS 




WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW 
ABOUT PLANTING, CULTIVA- 
TING AND HARVESTING THIS 
MOST DELICIOUS OF NUTS 



(Compiled by Walter Fox Allen) 
u 

(Copyright 1912) 















ECI.A309583 



Foreword. 

REALIZING the tremendous in- 
terest that is now being directed 
by owners of country estates 
everywhere to the culture of the Persian 
or English Walnut, I have compiled this 
little book with the idea of supplying 
the instruction needed on the planting, 
cultivation and harvesting of this most 
delicious of all nuts. 

I have gathered the material herein 
presented from a large number of trust- 
worthy sources, using only such portions 
of each as would seem to be of prime 
importance to the intending grower. 

I am indebted to the United States 
Department of Agriculture and to numer- 
ous cultivators of the nut in all sections of 
the country. 

I have aimed at accuracy and brevity 
and hope the following pages will furnish 
just that practical information which I 
have felt has long been desired. 

The Compiler. 



English JValnuts. 




VIEWED as a comparatively new in- 
dustry, the culture of the Persian or 
English Walnut is making remark- 
able strides in this country. Owners of 
farms and suburban estates everywhere 
are becoming interested in the raising of 
this delicious article of food, thousands 
of trees being set out every year. 

There are two important reasons for 
the rapidly growing enthusiasm that is 
being manifested toward the English 
Walnut: First, its exceptional value as a 
food property is becoming widely recog- 
nized, one pound of walnut meat being 
equal in nutriment to eight pounds of 



Page Fi<ve 



steak. Secondly, its superior worth as 
an ornamental shade tree is admitted by 
everyone who knows the first thing about 
trees. For this purpose there is nothing 
more beautiful. With their wide-spread- 
ing branches and dark-green foliage, they 
are a delight to the eye. Unlike the 
leaves of some of our shade trees, those 
of this variety do not drop during the 
Summer but adhere until late in the Fall, 
thus making an unusually clean tree for 
lawn or garden. In addition to all this, 
the walnut is particularly free from scale 
and other pests. 

Up to the present time, the English 
Walnut has been more largely in demand 
as a shade tree than as a commercial 
proposition; in fact, so little attention 
has been given to the nuts themselves 
that there are, comparatively speaking, 
few large producing orchards in the 
United States, the greater portion of the 
total yield of walnuts being procured 
from scattered field and roadside trees. 
It is a little difficult to understand why 
they should have been so neglected when 



Page Six 




Six Year Old Bearing English Walnut Tree 



there are records of single trees bearing 
as much as 800 pounds of nuts in one 
year. 

In 1895 this country produced about 
4,000,000 pounds, and more than 16,000- 
000 pounds of English Walnuts in 1907, 
with a proportionate annual increase 
each year to the present. But, when it is 
known that the United States is consum- 
ing yearly about 50,000,000 pounds of 
nuts, with the demand constantly increas- 
ing, thereby necessitating the importation 
annually of something more than 25,- 
000,000 pounds, the wonderful possibil- 
ities of the industry in this country, 
from a purely business view point, will 
readily be appreciated. And of course 
the market price of the walnut is keeping 
step with the consumption, having ad- 
vanced from 15 to 20 cents a pound in 
the past few years. 

In California the nut industry is be- 
coming a formidable rival of * p; va i f 
the orange; in fact, there are ^ 

more dollars worth of nuts (all the ° ran * e 
varieties) shipped from the state now per 

Page Seven 



year than oranges. One grower is shipping 
$136,000 worth of English Walnuts a year 
while another man, with an orchard just 
beginning to bear, is getting about $200 
an acre for his crop. 

No standard estimate can at present 
be placed on the yield per acre of orchards 
in full bearing, but the growers are confi- 
dent that they will soon be deriving from 
$800 to $1600 per acre, this figure being 
based on the number of individual trees 
which are already producing from $90 to 
$120 a year. The success with the nut in 
California can be duplicated in the East 
providing certain hardy varieties are 
planted; and in the few instances where 
orchards have been started in the East, 
great things have already been done and 
still greater are expected in the next few 
years. 

But where did this walnut originate? 
q . . r What is its history? Juglans 

th E T h ^ e gi a ( nu t °f the gods) Persian 

^y i Walnut, called also Madeira 

Nut and English Walnut, is a 

native of Western, Central and probably 

Page Eight 



Eastern Asia, the home of the peach and 
the apricot. It was known to the Greeks, 
who introduced it from Persia into Eu- 
rope at an early day, as "Persicon" or 
"Persian" nut and "Basilicon" or "Royal" 
nut. Carried from Greece to Rome, it 
became "Juglans" (name derived from 
Jo vis and glans, an acorn; literally "Ju- 
piter's Acorn", or "the Nut of the Gods"). 
From Rome it was distributed through- 
out Continental Europe, and according 
to Loudon, it reached England prior to 
1562. In England it is generally known 
as the walnut, a term of Anglo-Saxon 
derivation signifying "foreign nut". It 
has been called Madeira Nut, presumably 
because the fruit was formerly imported 
into England from the Madeira Islands, 
where it is yet grown to some extent. 
In America it has commonly been known 
as English Walnut to distinguish it from 
our native species. From the fact that 
of all the names applied to this nut "Per- 
sian" seems to have been the first in 
common use, and that it indicates approx- 
imately the home of the species, the name 
"Persian Walnut" is regarded as most 



Page Nine 



suitable, but inasmuch as "English Wal- 
nut" is better known here, we shall use 
that name in this treatise. 

As a material for the manufacture of 
gunstocks and furniture the timber of 
the nut was long in great demand through- 
out Europe and high prices were paid for 
it. Early in the last century as much as 
$3,000 was paid for a single large tree for 
the making of gunstocks. 

Everything depends upon the planting 
and cultivation of English Walnuts as 

PI ri A m deed ^ does °f an< other 

fruits from which the very best 

Cultivation resu lts are desired. The follow- 
ing general rules should be thoroughly 
mastered. 

Plant English Walnut Trees: 

On any well-drained land where the 
sub-soil moisture is not more than 
ten or twelve feet from the surface. 

Wherever Oaks, Black Walnuts or 
other tap-root nut trees will grow. 
Forty to sixty feet apart. 

Page Ten 



In holes eighteen inches in diameter 
and thirty inches deep. 

Two inches deeper than the earth 
mark showing on the tree. 

And Remember: 

That the trees need plenty of good, 
rich soil about their roots. 

That the trees should be inclined 
slightly toward prevailing winds. 

That the trees should not be cut 
back. 

That the ground cannot be packed 
too hard around the roots and the 
tree. 

That the trees should be mulched in 
the Fall. 

That the ground should be kept cul- 
tivated around the trees during 
the Spring and Summer. 

That English Walnut trees should be 
transplanted while young, as they 
will often double in size the year 
the tap-root reaches the sub-soil 
moisture (that is, the moist earth). 



Page Eleven 



That tap-root trees are the easiest 
of all to transplant if the work is 
done while the trees are young and 
small. 

That trees sometimes bear the third 
year after transplanting three- 
year-old trees where the sub-soil 
moisture is within six or eight feet 
of the surface. 

That the age of bearing depends 
largely on the distance the tap- 
root has to grow to reach the sub- 
soil moisture. 

The growth of the English Walnut is 

different from that of most fruit trees. 

The small trees grow about six inches the 

first year, tap-root the same; the 

Peculiarities second year they grow about 

of Growth twelve inches, tap-root the same; 

the third year they grow about 

eighteen inches, tap-root nearly as much. 

For the first three years the tap-root 

seems to gain most of the nourishment, 

and at the end of the third year, or 

about that time, the tree itself starts its 

real growth. After the tap-root reaches 

Page Tnjoel've 



the sub-soil moisture, the tree often 
grows as much in one year as it has in the 
preceding three or four. If the trees are 
transplanted previous to the time that 
the tap-root reaches this moisture and 
before the tree starts its rapid growth, 
very few young trees are lost in the pro- 
cess of transplanting. 

For orchard planting the trees should 
be placed from forty to sixty feet apart 
and by staggering the rows a greater dis- 
tance is gained between individ- 
ual trees. Any other small fruits Orchard 
may be planted in the orchard Planting 
between the walnut trees or any 
cultivated crop can be raised satisfactorily 
on the same land, many orchardists 
gaining triple use of the soil in this way. 
Besides, the cultivation of the earth in 
proximity to the walnuts proves of great 
benefit to the trees. Before trees are 
planted the tap-root should be trimmed 
or cut back and most if not all the lateral 
branches trimmed from the tree. The 
tree itself should not be cut back as is 
customary with other fruit trees, but by 



Page Thirteen 



leaving the terminal bud intact, a much 
better shaped tree is developed. It is not 
necessary to prune English Walnut trees 
except in cases where some of the lower 
branches interfere with cultivation. 

Cultivation in the North should be 
stopped about the first of August, thus 
halting the growth of the trees and giving 
them a chance to harden their wood for 
Winter. This is a good plan to follow in 
the cultivation of nearly all the smaller 
fruit trees. 

When planting on the lawn for orna- 
mental purposes a ring from two to three 
feet in diameter should be cultivated 
about the base of the tree. 

The tender varieties that have been used 
in Southern California must not be experi- 
mented with in the North, as they bloom 
too early and are almost certain 
Selection to be caught by the frost. These 
of Varieties varieties have been tried in Nor- 
thern California without success, 
and the venture is quite likely to be disas- 
trous in any but the warmest climates. 



Page Fourteen 





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Mr. E. C. Pomeroy, Gathering English Walnuts 
on His Farm in Lockport, N. Y. 



The uncertainty of a crop is often due 
to the very early blooming of the kinds 
planted. These start to grow at the first 
warm spell in the latter part of the Winter 
or at the first blush of Spring, and almost 
invariably become victims of frost and 
consequently produce no fruit. 

Planting in the Northwest and the 
East until recently has been limited to an 
extremely narrow area. There was need 
of a variety possessing strong, distinct 
characteristics, hardy, late to start growth, 
and with the pistillate and staminate 
blossoms maturing at the same time and 
bearing a nut of good quality and flavor 
with a full rich meat. This variety has 
now been found, as will later be shown. 

English Walnuts grown in the North 
command from three to five cents more a 
pound than the other nuts in the markets, 
as the meat is plumper and the flavor 
better. Most fruit is at its best at the 
Northern limit of its range. 

One experienced grower, in reference 
to transplanting has said: "I have trans- 
planted all the way from a year to six and 



Page Fifteen 



the trees have grown and done well, but 
so far as my experience goes, I prefer to 
move them at three years of age or about 
that time. The best trees I have were 
transplanted at this age." 

The following extract on tree planting 
P I* « . in general, pertaining to all kinds 
p, .. ? of trees, is contributed by O. K. 
White of the Michigan Experi- 
ment Station: 

"The advisability of Fall or Spring 
planting depends upon several con- 
ditions. Fall planting has the advan- 
tage over Spring planting in that the 
trees become firmly established in 
the soil before Winter sets in, and 
are able to start growth in the Spring 
before the ground can be marked 
and put in condition for planting. 
This is important because the trees 
get a good growth in the early part 
of the season before the Summer 
droughts occur. On the other hand 
there is more or less danger from 
Winter injury during a severe season 
or from the drying out of the trees if 

Page Sixteen 




Thirty Year Old Parent English Walnut Trees in 
Background, Young Bearing Tree in Front 



the Winter is long and dry. Fall 
planting is much more successful 
with the hardy apples and pears than 
it is with the tender plums, cherries 
and peaches. 

"The convenience of the season 
will determine in a majority of cases 
whether or not the planting shall be 
done in the Fall or Spring. Very 
often the rush of the Spring work 
induces the grower to hurry his plant- 
ing, or to do it carelessly; and as a 
result a poor start is secured, with 
crooked rows. Others have large 
crops to harvest in the Fall and 
would find it more convenient to do 
the planting in the Spring. If there 
is any doubt as to the best time to 
plant, let it be in the Spring." 

We now come to the subject of fer- 
tilization. Up to the time when the 
young trees come into bearing, 
cultivation and fertilization will Fertilizing 
help them enormously, the cul- 
tivation keeping the soil in condition 
to hold the moisture of the tree. In 

Page Seventeen 



fertilizing, a mulch of stable manure in 
the Fall is considered by most growers 
to be the best, but the following prepara- 
tion is thought to be exceptionally good 
for all young orchards : 

Dried blood, 1,000 pounds; bone meal, 
550 pounds; sulphate of potash, 350 
pounds. Total, 2,000 pounds. This 
should be applied close up and about the 
tree, extending out each year in a circle 
somewhat beyond the spread of the 
branches. 

This provides a quickly available plant 
food, rich in nitrogen and especially 
recommended for rapid growth. 

After the tap-root reaches the sub-soil 
moisture it is well able to take care of the 
tree; and both cultivation and fertiliza- 
tion may then be stopped. In fact, by 
this time practically no further care is 
needed in the nut orchard with the ex- 
ception of that required at the harvesting 
time, and this is a pleasant and easy 
occupation, especially in the Northern 
and Eastern states where the frost opens 



Page Eighteen 



the shuck and the nuts drop free upon 
the ground where they may be picked 
up and put into sacks of 110 to 120 
pounds each, ready for the market. 

Just before the first frost it is a very 
good idea to remove all leaves from the 
ground so that when the nuts fall they 
can be readily seen and gathered. An 
excellent method of accomplishing this 
is by means of a horse and rake. The 
nuts may be left on the ground to dry or 
may be removed to any convenient place 
for that purpose. 

There are three distinct kinds of Eng- 
lish Walnuts — hard-shell, soft-shell and 
paper-shell, the soft-shell being the best. 
Each of these three is divided 
into a number of varieties, the The 
names of some of the more pop- Different 
ular ones being the Barthere, Kinds 
Chaberte, Cluster, Drew, Ford, 
Franquette, Gant or Bijou, Grand Nob- 
lesse, Lanfray, Mammoth, Mayette, 
Wiltz Mayette, Mesange, Meylan, Mis- 
sion, Parisienne, Poorman, Proepar- 



Page Nineteen 



turiens, Santa Barbara, Pomeroy, Sero- 
tina, Sexton, Vourey, Concord, Chase and 
the Eureka. 

The question of the best varieties for 
planting in the North as well as in the 
South is somewhat open to discussion, 
due largely to a lack of sufficient infor- 
mation in regard to some of the more 
promising kinds. There is but little 
question that the best proven variety for 
the Northwest is the Franquette and for 
the East and Northeast, the Pomeroy. 
Both of these are good producers bearing 
a fine nut, well filled with a white meat 
of excellent flavor, and of good shape and 
commanding the highest market prices. 
The two varieties are also very late in 
starting in the Spring making them safe 
against the late frosts. Their pistillate 
and staminate blossoms mature at the 
same time. 

The white-meated nut is far superior 
to any other. The browning or staining 
is caused by the extremely dry heat and 
sun in the far South. In the North or 



Page Tnventy 




English Walnuts Bear in Clusters of Two to Five 



where the tree has an abundant thick 
foliage the meat is invariably whiter. 

The Mission Nut was introduced by 
the priests of Los Angeles and is the 
pioneer Persian Walnut of California. 
Most of the bearing orchards of ji 
the state are composed of seed- jli* : n M ut 
ling trees of this type. The nut 
is medium-sized with a hard shell of 
ordinary thickness. It suceeds admirably 
in a few favored districts (of Southern 
California) but fails in productiveness 
farther North. Its most prominent faults 
are — early blooming, in consequence of 
which it is often caught by the late frosts ; 
the irregular and unequal blooming of its 
pistillate and staminate blossoms, and the 
consequent failure of the former to be 
fertilized and to develop nuts; and late- 
ness in ripening its wood in the Fall and 
consequent liability to injury by frost at 
that time. 

The Santa Barbara English Walnut 
(soft-shell) variety is about ten days later 
than the Mission in starting growth and 

Page Tnventy-one 



in blooming in the Spring. It fruits from 

four to six years from seed and usually 

The Santa produces a full crop every year. 

R h N t S n0 ^ aS s ^ ron S a g rower as 

the Mission and more trees can 

be grown to the acre. The shells are thin 

and easily broken, therefore the nuts are 

sometimes damaged in long shipment. 

The kernel is white and of very fine 

quality. 

The Pomeroy variety was started in a 
most peculiar and interesting way. The 
late Norman Pomeroy of Lockport, New 
ji York, made the discovery quite 

D w by accident. When he was in 

Pomeroy Nut p hila d e lphia in 1876 visiting the 
Centennial Exposition, he awoke one 
morning to be greeted by the leaves of a 
gorgeous tree, which just touched his 
window and through which the sun shone 
brightly. He soon was examining a mag- 
nificent English Walnut tree. On the 
ground directly under he found the nuts, 
which had fallen during the night. Their 
flavor was more delicious and the meat 
fuller than any he had ever before tasted. 

Page Tnjoenty-tnvo 



The shell was unusually thin and Mr. 
Pomeroy was astonished, for he never 
believed the English Walnut grew in the 
East. 

Knowing the varieties grown in Cali- 
fornia could not be raised in the East or 
North, he questioned his landlord and 
found that this particular tree had been 
brought from Northern Europe. Mr. 
Pomeroy determined at once that possibly 
this variety would be hardy enough for 
cultivation in New York State. He pro- 
cured some of the nuts and put them in 
his satchel which he entrusted to a 
neighbor who was about to start home. 
The neighbor reached home all right and 
so did the nuts — but — the neighbor's 
children found the rare delicacies and ate 
all but seven. They would doubtless 
have eaten these too but fortunately they 
had slipped into the lining of the satchel 
where Mr. Pomeroy found them on his 
return to Lockport. These seven nuts, 
which had so narrow an escape from ob- 
livion, are now seven beautiful English 
Walnut trees, sixty or more feet high and 



Page Twenty-three 



the progenitors of the Pomeroy orchards, 
all of which are now producing nuts like 
the originals — a very fine quality. 

English Walnuts to be used for making 

pickles, catsup, oil and other culinary 

products, are gathered when the fruit is 

about half mature or when the 

Some use* shell is soft enough to yield to 

of English the influence of cooking. The 

Walnuts proper stage can be determined 

by piercing the nut with a 

needle, a certain degree of hardness being 

desired. The nut is often utilized for 

olive oil in some parts of Europe. It 

takes one hundred pounds of nuts to 

make eighteen pounds of oil. 

In England the nuts are preserved fresh 
for the table where they are served with 
wine. They are buried deep in dry soil 
or sand so as not to be reached by frost, 
the sun's rays or rain; or by placing them 
in dry cellars and covering with straw. 
Others seal them up in tin cans filled 
with sand. 



Page Tiventy-four 



As an illustration of the hardiness 
of the English Walnut, there is a tree 
at Red Hill, Virginia, which was brought 
from Edinburgh, Scotland, when Examples of 
six months old, planted in New H ,. 
York, where it remained three " mess 
years, then removed to Staunton, Vir- 
ginia, and after two years taken to 
Red Hill. In consequence of so many 
changes, the tree at first died back, but 
is now thrifty — twenty feet high; trunk, 
eight inches in diameter at the ground. 

During several severe Winters, the 
thermometer fell so low that some peach 
trees and grape vines growing near Eng- 
lish Walnuts on the Pomeroy farm near 
Lockport, N. Y. were killed, while the 
nut trees were not in the least injured. 




Page Twenty-five 



The English JValnut 
at its Best. 

A SMOOTH, soft-shelled nut. 
Meat full, with sweet, hickory-nut 
flavor. 

Nuts fall clean and free from outside 
shuck. 

Frosts harvest the nuts — in October. 

They are self-pruning. 

Require no care after arrival at bearing age. 

An alkali sap keeps scales and pests from 
the trees. 

Blossoms immune from late frosts, as they 
start late. 

Pistillate and Staminate blossoms mature 
at same time in the best varieties, in- 
suring perfect fertilization and pro- 
ductivity. 

Bears more regularly than other nut trees. 

Bears heavier crops the older it be- 
comes, unlike other fruit trees the size 
and quality of whose fruit degenerates 
with age. 



Page Tiventy-six 



Interesting Figures about the 
English W^alnut. 

IN Spain and Southern France there 
are trees believed to be more than 
300 years old which bear from fifteen 
to eighteen bushels of nuts each, 
annually. 

In Whittier, California, is a famous tree 
which has been leased for a term of 
years at $500. 

Orchards seven and eight years old bring 
all the way from $1,000 to $2,000 per 
acre and are a fine investment, yielding 
from 15 to 125 per cent, according to 
age. 

The total cost of producing and harvest- 
ing an English Walnut crop is about 
one and one-half cents a pound. 




Page Tiventy-se<ven 



Kernels of Fact about the 
English Walnut. 



T 



HE United States consumes more 
than 50,000,000 pounds a year. 



The United States imports about 
27,000,000 pounds a year. 

The price is advancing steadily with the 
demand. 

Besides being profitable, the English 
Walnut is a clean, highly ornamental 
shade tree. 

The leaves remain on the tree until late 
in the Fall, not littering up the ground 
during the Summer. 

English Walnuts are not only a rare table 
delicacy, but may be utilized for catsup, 
pickles and oil. 

One pound of walnut meat equals eight 
pounds of steak in nutriment — and is 
a far more healthful food. 



Page Tiventy-eigkt 



What Luther Burbank 
has to say: 

64TT THEN you plant another tree, 

V V why not plant the English 
1 T Walnut? Then, besides sen- 
. timent, shade and leaves, you may 
have a perennial supply of nuts, the 
improved kind of which furnish the most 
delicious, nutritious and healthful food 
which has ever been known. The con- 
sumption of nuts is probably increasing 
among all civilized nations today faster 
than that of any other food; and we 
should keep up with this growing demand 
and make it still more rapid by producing 
nuts of uniform good quality, with a 
consequent increase in the health and a 
permanent increase in the wealth of our- 
selves and neighbors. ,, — From Address at 
Santa Rosa, California, in the Fall of 1905. 




Page Tiventy-nine 



PUBLISHED BY 

Walter Fox Allen 

Lawrenceville, N.J. 



MAR 19 1912 



